Galeotti on multicultural recognition: the case of the Danish cartoons and Quran burnings

Anna Elisabetta Galeotti’s theory concerning “toleration as recognition” is partly aimed at addressing issues and controversies facing multicultural societies. As such, Galeotti’s theory is theoretically richer and broader in scope than many other theories of multiculturalism, since it includes a focus on informal power relations and not only addresses legal rights but also social standards governing interaction between citizens. This raises several questions for the theory about the relation between standard liberal rights and the focus on social standards and informal power. Furthermore, given that toleration as recognition is premised on an analysis of multiculturalism in terms of social power relations and the resulting minority status, and that many minorities have immigrant origin, do transnational power relations affect how we should view cases from the point of view of toleration as recognition? The chapter discusses these questions in relation to the Danish cartoon controversy sparked by the publication of twelve cartoons under the heading “the face of Mohammed”, which Galeotti has engaged with several times, and the more recent case of Quran burnings. Galeotti has argued that, whereas legal limits on free speech were not an option in the cartoon controversy, the Danish state could and should have recognized the Muslim perspective on the cartoons in other ways, that the publications of the cartoons can be understood as a socially intolerant act, and that Muslim reactions to the cartoons can be seen as responses to intolerance. The chapter considers whether toleration as recognition is consistent with not having legal limits on free speech in such cases, and whether the fact that the cases are not merely domestic affect the duties of the state. The chapter further discusses the meaning and normative implications of social intolerance and considers some problems facing Galeotti’s view of toleration as a transitional social virtue.